Mannys Tokin Buddy

seriously!!! what is with this weather!

Three other guys I wouldnt mind seeing on our pitching staff next year.... 1. Scott Eyre -- this guy is lights out against lefties. Unlike Myers, he has the ability to use the strikeout to get lefties out. He has a 6.84 k per 9 IP for his career. His downside is that he walks a few, only 1.49 k per bb for his career. He held lefties to a .182 ba this past season....which would look great in a Sox uniform for the Matsui's, Crawford's, etc. that give us trouble. 2. Kyle Farnsworth -- Now this guy has an arm. He has a 9.08 k per 9 IP for his career, but the past three years, it is 10.86 k per 9 IP. He also has a better than 2:1 k:bb rate for his career. He held batters to a .181 BA with runners on (way better than Timlin) Righties only hit .165 off of him and lefties hit .197. This guy might be expensive, but he is 29, coming into his prime and would be look amazing with Hansen, Foulke and whoever else is in the pen. 3. Octavio Dotel (on a heavily loaded 2 year contract with incentives) -- He is injured. But before he got hurt, he threw gas. One of the things that I look for in bullpen pitching is guys that strike people out. Unlike someone like Timlin, who struggled everytime they came in with runners on base, this guy, and the two above, can actually get outs without the ball being put in play. I think these three guys are under the radar a little bit, maybe not as much with farnsworth. But they could all be great additions to our pen for 06 and beyond.

I am with you....man, I feel old!!!!! This year, I was shocked. Not that we lost. I really was just happy making the postseason with all the problems this team had. But we got swept. That was my problem. We couldn't manage one win in this series. It shows how quickly our offense collapsed down the stretch for the most part.

yeah i think we could get overbay, especially for arroyo....the brewers want to play prince fielder, so overbay is available for pitching i would assume. Yeah, i also like Zito. Even in Fenway (which can be tough on lefties) he would look pretty good.

manny for halladay?????? also, going after konerko and giles are extreme long shots. Giles is going to be involved in a bidding war....possibly the Cubs going hard after him? Konerko is most likely going to resign with Chicago. If we clear ~23 Million.....then we can push hard for AJ Burnett, go after a middle reliever who can actually strike someone out, a better first baseman....adam dunn? lyle overbay? I still think that we will clear manny's salary too but take on beltran's. so that will increase flexability. Who knows, we may end up making a deal for barry zito. Once Theo is resigned, we will start to see what off the wall moves he makes that will help us win the division.

Sorry about that guys....I definitely think my post was confusing. Basically, my point is that for the last five years, BJ Ryan has had better peripheral numbers than Wagner, plus he is 5 years younger....sorry bout the confusion

I think you may be right....but honestly, an outfield of Manny, Jones and Nixon scares the hell out of me. There are three decent arms, but none of them have tremendous range. Damon's range hides a lot of Nixon's weaker range.

Here is what the Sox need...IMO They need to get younger at several positions. Papelbon, Hansen, Delcarmen help the pitching staff get younger (as well as increasing the staff's ability to strike batters out, a key flaw this year, especially in the bullpen.) As for the offense, I see us going younger at 3b where Youkilis will get the starting nod over Mueller who won't be back. I also see us getting younger at 2b with Pedroia coming up at some point in 06. Possibly, 1b is a spot where we could get younger as well. Maybe a Ryan Shealy for Kelly Shoppach deal could be reopened? This team got old fast. Whether it was the 30 games in 30 days or something else, our team looked really old in September and definitely in October. 6 - 9 in the batting order had no production in the LDS, especially with runners in scoring position. Finally, we need to overhaul the bullpen. Delcarmen and Hansen help. Hopefully Foulke can make a comeback, physically and mentally. Resign Timlin for 2.8 - 3.0 million for one year. That gives us a decent 7, 8 and 9th inning. If we sign Ryan, we have to understand that without cutting salary somewhere else, we wont get AJ Burnett. DiNardo will be the long man and Myers will be the LOOGY. That's not too bad.

What Beltran lacks in home runs and BA, he makes up for in defense. He is a superior defensive center fielder when healthy. If we trade Manny for Beltran, we could then find a LF replacement (possibly Adam Dunn??) to make up the offensive slack that would be lost by Manny's departure. Beltran's arm and range are amazing and would vastly improve our defense up the middle. In terms of Konerko, there is no chance of him coming here. He is most likely resigning with the PaleHose. He said somewhere that he was willing to give them the hometown discount (sorry for not having a link for this....I think it was in the Chicago SunTimes.) Morris, that is an interesting pitcher. I think he is going to be under the radar because of the AJB sweepstakes. He has had a history of injuries, including this year missing time in September. But he has pretty solid stuff. I wouldn't mind Morris or even a Milwood for the right price.

I agree that Beltran is a downgrade from Manny offensively. But from what I remember (and Beltran was supposed to be one of my fantasy studs) he suffered from a quadraceps injury that limited his speed and his fielding. IMO, I think 2005 is the outlier for Beltran's career. His numbers before that illustrate a very successful player until this year. But the question really is was it the injury or was it the pressure of NYC?

Papelbon pitched between 5 and 6 innings in each of his three starts in the middle of the season (July and August) The thing that was noticable in those starts were the walks. He had 10 walks in 15.2 IP. Most likely, this was due to nerves from pitching in the bigs for the first few times. Once he got to September, he only had 4 walks in 14.2 IP. IMO, I think he will start the year as the long man, pretty much regardless of what happens this offseason. He will be a starter by May or June though

I disagree that Wagner is the better pitcher. First off, he will be 35 in the middle of next season. Plus he has a history of injuries. I don't want to sign someone to be a closer that may not be healthy. Plus, over the past five years, Ryan has better peripheral numbers...11.17 k per 9 IP vs 10.71 k per 9 IP & 0.62 HR per 9 IP vs 0.79 HR per 9 IP. Plus he will be 30 at the end of the year. Both pitchers are going to be expensive, but if I had to chose one....I want Ryan over Wagner in a heartbeat.

Who plays center??? Jones is a right fielder. If we moved nixon to center, we might have the worst defensive outfield in baseball. IMO, I think Damon walks....between age, injuries and the desire for a long term (4+ years) contract, I think we go our separate ways. One potential deal is a Manny for Beltran. I don't want to see Manny leave, but Beltran would help our defense and baserunning. The free agent I want to see the Sox get is AJ Burnett....28 years old with two plus pitches....the kid has potential.

Hello all, my name is Chris. I am a 26 year old graduate student from Portland ME. I am a diehard Sox fan....have been for nearly 20 years. I am looking forward to some great conversations and arguments. I tend to voice my opinions....if I go after a comment, it's not personal....I just have a differing point of view. Here's to hoping for another title in 06!!!! :thumbsup: